Day 12 - 06/13/2008

I dutifully woke up for breakfast at 6:45, but couldn’t help wondering why it was planned for so early. It turns out that the guys who were still around had to go check in at Moody for the day just be available for things that might come up or to turn in projects.

Todd asked me how I slept, admitting that he had forgotten to warn me about the trains. I simply replied “What trains?” I am sleeping well here. I didn’t awake to any planes either. We had steak and eggs for breakfast, and took it outside for Todd to lead a devotional time for the guys. It was a reflective time, looking back at God’s blessings over the past year. Todd discussed the proper perspective in looking back, as Paul tells us in Philippians 3 not to look back, but Peter tells us to look back. We need to look back at our lives with a heavenly perspective of what God has done, not with a view of own accomplishments. It was a beautiful morning, and the fire pit in the backyard was a perfect setting for this.

I was up for the day, and knew I wouldn’t fall back asleep, so I started about my day. I showered and got a load of laundry going. Then I went upstairs and opened my laptop. I continued my blogging, alternating between that and knitting some more. I talked with Roxie, Grayson & Kayla a lot that morning. Kayla and Frank knit also, so they were interested in my progress on Victoria’s scarf.

Roxie homeschools Grayson and Kayla, and they were having a slow start to the morning. Their routine is off because the guys are now out of school. Roxie and Kayla hadn’t gotten up for breakfast this morning, so they ate and Grayson & I joined them with a snack. Frank, Mike #2 and Bryce came back from Moody and joined us for lunch. They only had to check in today and were allowed to leave almost immediately after arriving, which was a pleasant surprise to them. Lunch was make-it-yourself, so I put together a quick PB&J sandwich, noticing they had Lingonberry jam (Swedish berries you find incorporated into food at Ikea). We all talked about Frank leaving for Africa today, and he seemed so at ease about the whole process. He was going to spend four days in Maine with family before leaving the continent, but it’s still an imminent big change for him. That’s a peace I want to find.

I saw a Dehydrator for the first time. This road trip has been full of firsts for me, and this is a cool one. This machine sucks the moisture out of food to make things like dried fruit or beef jerky. The interesting thing is that its process speed is affected by the moisture in the air. On dry days, I can do a thing of beef jerky in 6-8 hours, but with a lot of moisture in the air it can be over 14 hours.

Breakfast and lunch dishes were cleared, and Roxie began the morning school devotional with Grayson and Kayla, allowing me to join in as well. I want to get as much as I can out of my time here. They are doing a progression through the Bible, starting three years ago in Genesis. Sometime recently Roxie decided to bring in the New Testament concurrently, alternating days between Old and New. So today is a New Testament day, meaning that we were in Matthew 10 (they’re in Psalms in the OT).

We each read a verse, only going through the first four. This is the part of the story where God calls the original twelve disciples and gives them the power to cast out evil spirits and heal diseases. We talked about how all the power originates from God, and that none is from the disciples themselves, teaching humility and reliance on God. I brought up the saying “God doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called.” We discussed how this condemns pride, but it also erases the excuse of fear of inadequacy. God will equip us to do what He has in store for us. We even found something in the naming of the disciples as Roxie brought up the point, “How would you like to be remembered in the Bible as the one who betrayed Jesus?” referencing the appositive attached to Judas Iscariot. We then prayed, each taking time to thank our Savior and make requests of him. I love this family!

Roxie also gave me some more background on their ministry here and Moody as Grayson and Kayla did their school work. Missionary Pilots are a unique type of missionary. Their training and education requires an exorbitant amount of funding to become licensed as a pilot. And they become a missionary usually primarily only to other missionaries, who then are directly working with unreached people. Missionary pilots exponentially enhance the ministry effectiveness of those other missionaries because pilots can get missionaries to their target areas so much more quickly and safely. What may take days or weeks to traverse by ground in the wilderness of Africa may only take 20 minutes to fly. The need for missionary pilots really became apparent with the martyr of Jim Elliot and his four team members. Roxie mentioned how difficult it can be to understand this different nature (particularly in raising support) unless it can be seen firsthand.

I’ve been really impressed with Grayson and Kayla. I would get to know them more over this visit, but I could already see some terrific character traits in both of them. Kayla is 10 and has an incredible sense of faith. That girl believes in Christ and His power with everything in her. The saying “God Can Move Mountains” comes to mind. If we needed God to physically move a mountain, most would watch to see “if” God would actually move it. Kayla would watch with a look of waiting for “when” God will decide that it’s His time to move it.

Grayson has a quest for knowledge, information and personal growth. This 9th grader has an unquenchable thirst to know more about the world around him, and constantly seeks to try his best with a mature enthusiasm that inspires me. He’s a gifted photographer as well, showing me some incredible pictures of a spring snow storm that happened a couple days prior to my arrival.
But what I like even more than their individual strengths and gifts is the way they support each other. They are both learning to play the fiddle, and have made incredible progress, and in that and everything else I saw them do together. They did play several songs while I was around, many for practice and a few as a performance for me. Roxie had them play one last “foot-stomping” one before resuming book work, and told me she’d know there was something wrong with me if I didn’t end up tapping my foot to this one. I was tapping my feet, but didn’t see her tapping hers. I didn’t bring up the implication. ;-) But maybe she’s just not as kinesthetic of a person.

Amy is getting a new cat. She has a girl cat Ella who is extremely skittish, and she is taking in a boy cat (both are “fixed”) named Rock Hudson. She was supposed to be getting Rock tomorrow, but something happened that she needed to get him today, so she was going to be slightly delayed in starting our adventure today, and called to tell me of the delay and that she would call me again to tell me when to come over and see her apartment.

Brian and Frank took a break from their activities, and joined me on the couch as I typed. With Brian sitting next to me, I noticed the piercing in the cartilage of his left ear. He only had the plug in because he had noticed it getting infected. He said he had always wanted a piercing, but didn’t know where to get it. When he mentioned his eyebrow, I interjected to make sure he was going to do the right eyebrow for the proper connotation. He knew about the left ear being the heterosexual side for piercings, but he didn’t know that it was reversed for eyebrows. I’ve considered re-piercing my ear on this trip, but decided the time just wasn’t right.

Amy called while I was hanging out with the guys and gave me the signal to come over. I told her about the plans for everyone to go to Olive Garden, and also asked if Frank was going to get another chance to see her. It was almost 3 p.m., and Frank was about to leave for the airport. They had said they’re good-byes last night, but she still told me she was sending a phone hug to Frank. I told him this and held up the phone so he would be the recipient of the phone hug. He appeared as bewildered as I was as to what a phone hug is, but I told Amy that he was deeply touched. I quickly gathered my stuff and got on the road to her apartment, only 2 miles away.

As I neared her apartment complex, I noticed that my Google Map directions ended on a different street than the one for her address. And I was surrounded by apartment complexes (complices?). I called her and figured out I needed to go down one more street and I would arrive at her complex. She then told me to come in the back door because she wanted her neighbors to see me and think I was her boyfriend and that I lived there, too. This obviously surprised me. I interpreted it as her neighbors thought she was a prude and she wanted a different reputation. I told her this and she started cracking up. She wanted to give the appearance of protection, to make her less of a target for crime as a woman living alone. So I called out casually, “Honey, it’s so good to be home!” as I walked up just to amp up our show.

After I entered the back door, she closed it and started piling her exercise equipment back against it and locking it. She showed me her beautiful and spacious apartment, and I met her cats, Rock and Ella. Ella currently has run of the apartment, but mainly hides in Amy’s bedroom. Rock is set up in the bathroom for the time being, as Amy was told to keep them apart for a few days for them to gradually get used to each other’s presence, among other reasons.

Scott arrived shortly thereafter, and we were introduced. He’s in the Moody Aviation program here as well, but he doesn’t live at the Elton House (Todd & Roxie live on Elton Street in Spokane, and they call it the Elton House rather than by their last name because so many others call it home as well). Amy handed Scott her keys, saying that he should drive because he and I had long legs and should be in front (she has a two-door 2005 Honda Civic, and had to crawl into the back). Between the two of them, they figured out which way to go to pick up Ruby, who was waiting outside her apartment for us.

Ruby is a new friend of Amy’s, having just moved here from New York by way of Texas. She moved here with her best friend Sarah M. (to be introduced later), whose brother D.J. (to be introduced much later) is attending Moody Spokane. Ruby is an amazing chef. She makes everything from scratch. I mean EVERYTHING. If she wants fries, she starts with potatoes and makes them herself. Amy gushed for five solid minutes about Ruby’s chocolate chip cookies.
We were headed to Moody for a tour of the school and the hanger. We got there around 4 p.m. and it was Friday after classes had ended. It was looked but someone inside let us in, and a guy named Jim graciously agreed to give us a short tour (that became longer than he expected because of all of our questions).

We saw the main building, with classrooms, planning rooms, flight simulators, maps, and offices. A glass enclosed bookcase at the top of the stairs displayed several of the Bible translations that Moody had a hand in getting translated. Jim then took us out to the hanger, and we saw so many different types of planes. The one of special interest was the Kodiak. It’s a new plane (only two or three are built and operational to date) designed almost specifically for missionary pilots. The Kodiak uses a more efficient type of fuel, holds more passengers than the model it’s replacing, and I think is able to land on smaller airstrips (a crucial component for third-world countries). It was incredible to see how Moody has the first one to use and train its future pilots. Its serial number is 1, there was a prototype, and the next one almost complete and will be going somewhere else unaffiliated with Moody.

Upon leaving, we discovered there was a train stopped on the tracks across the nearest intersection. Scott, Ruby and Amy apparently thought nothing of this and Scott started driving way out of the way to get to the next available crossing. It’s a different way of life here. Our next stop was Olive Garden.

Todd & Roxie had a gift certificate there, and they wanted to have a celebratory dinner with everyone for the completion of another year, so they had decided to do an en mass unlimited soup & salad dinner there with everyone, and with the gift certificate, it would only cost about $3/person. We were a little late, but it was a wonderful time with everyone. Bryce had the idea of skewering his breadstick on his fork, and his straw from there, delighting in being able to suck warm air from his breadstick. Roxie, in an unconventional mother’s fashion, really liked the first part of the idea, and invited everyone at the table to skewer their breadsticks. I’m sure Emily Post was spinning in her grave, but it was hilarious to see most everyone at the table follow suit.

The meal was delicious, and a great chance to spend more time with everyone. Mike #1 (hereinafter Mike R. as I have learn both their last names) was there, and I was surprised to learn that he and Amy hadn’t met before. With as connected as Amy is with Todd & Roxie and the whole Elton House, I would figure she’d know everyone connected with Moody by now. I noticed some tape on Mike S.’s arm, and asked if he’d donated blood, to which he responded that he’d donated plasma, for which you can get money. That perked my interest, and I asked him a bunch of questions about it, wondering about doing it myself.

From there, Amy’s plans for my visit included going out to Coeur d’Alene, which I learned is in Idaho. We wanted to bring a big group, and we got enough people that we would take two cars. We rendezvoused back at Amy’s apartment (after our group ambled aimlessly through the parking garage trying to find where we had left her car).

I got there, and met Sarah M. She works in some veterinary assistant’s capacity, and was giving Amy some feedback on Rock and when to let him and Ella both run around freely. I had to use the bathroom that Rock is shut up in, and I discovered that he is a very friendly cat. I had a difficult time in there because he seemed very self-confident that he was the reason I was in there.

When everyone arrived, we decided we could split the group by gender. Amy was driving the girl car and I was driving the boy car (except that Serena is a girl, but she wanted to see Idaho, so she was okay with it). Sarah M., Ruby and Amy were in the car following Bryce, Brian, Jonathan, Scott and me. I found it interested that I was leading since I’ve never been there, but Brian was able to direct me. We had a blast even on the freeway teasing each other’s cars. Brian led us in a fine formation of flapping our wings (arms out the opened windows) up and down (except for Bryce, who decided to have a defective wing.

We crossed into Idaho (“No, you ‘da ho!” was a common overused joke there) about twenty minutes after departure. Another ten, and we pulled off the freeway to park at Coeur d’Alene, a lake in Northwestern Idaho. We paid for parking and then decided to walk the Boardwalk there. It was beautiful to see, and a lot of fun with a group of people.

We took a lot of pictures, and ended up at a hotel there, messing around in the glass turnabout doors (it’s a wonder that we weren’t asked to leave). We started trying to go up in the hotel, first with the goal of getting as high up as we could, and later with the goal of the best vantage point for pictures of the lake. Jonathan was the only one dressed “nice,” and so it really was miraculous that people weren’t ruder to us and our roaming. We were finally told that the best place for pictures might be from the top of the parking garage, and so we meandered over to there.

We took the elevator up, and the restaurant hostess was right: it was an excellent place to take pictures. We walked around to all of the different edges of the top level, looking out at the scenery. Brian wanted to be back by 10ish, and we were a little late leaving. As we left, Amy randomly found a wine glass on the ground. I somehow got the hiccoughs and could not get rid of them. Before we got in the cars, I even tried swallowing upside down, but it didn’t work like it normally does. I was worried I might hiccough all the way home, and lo and behold, I did. When we finally arrived at Amy’s, Bryce helped me try his technique. He pulled down firmly on my ears as I slowly drank some Gatorade, and it worked. Thank goodness! Thirty miles is a long way to go with hiccoughs.

Bryce had to get back to the house because he was doing the paper route the next morning (the family does one as a group, with the boarding guys helping out), and so he and I left quickly after dropping everything off to their cars back at Amy’s. The drive back was one of many good talks between us. Bryce is in a unique position in the Elton House because he lives as both a biological family member and a boarding student, and I think that’s afforded him a very insightful life perspective. We talked about commitment to God, and some more specifics of the Moody program.

We arrived to find all the lights out. I followed Bryce around to the back of the house, and we went in the back door on the lower level of the house, which led us right to our respective rooms. I stayed up typing and unloading pictures for awhile, but went to bed around 12.